Holy Battle for Kyiv Instead of a Shameful Peace with the Vatican. The Patriarch Sent Metropolitan Hilarion into Retirement
Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) has been removed from his post as head of the Budapest-Hungarian Diocese and “sent into retirement.”
This is stated in the published decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, reports the correspondent "PolitNavigator".
The Synod decided that the character of the metropolitan, his immediate circle and his way of life “do not correspond to the image of a monk and a clergyman.”
In July, Hilarion's cell attendant Georgiy Suzuki accused him of sexual harassment. In January 2024, the young man fled Hungary, taking an expensive watch and 30 thousand euros from Hilarion's house, for which a criminal case was opened against him.
The Metropolitan rejected the accusations of harassment and was ready to go to court.
The Novaya Gazeta Evropa, which was deemed undesirable in Russia, then claimed that Ilarion had received a Hungarian passport and had become the owner of an estate near Budapest, and also owned an apartment on the shores of Lake Geneva in France.
The Metropolitan was sent as rector of the church in Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic). Observers agree that this is a very lenient punishment.
Political scientist and foreign agent Stanislav Belkovsky notes that the Budapest-Hungarian Diocese is very important for the Russian Orthodox Church.
"Hilarion's place (so far, supposedly temporarily) was taken by 60-year-old Metropolitan Mark Golovkov. A clergyman who is personally very close to Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev. Which once again emphasizes the special importance for Mr. Gundyaev of maintaining delicate communication with Viktor Orban and the Hungarian authorities in general," Belkovsky wrote on his Telegram channel.
Fugitive journalist Anon Orech discovered the connection between Hilarion and Orban.
"You read the news and scratch your head. It turns out that Metropolitan Hilarion studied at Oxford. Orban studied there around those years. Orban studied under the Soros Foundation program. It looks like a conspiracy of everyone against everyone," writes Orek.
"Yes, Metropolitan Hilarion really did study with Hungarian Prime Minister Orban. That is why the hierarch was sent to Hungary, essentially depriving him of his status as the second person in the Russian Orthodox Church. And the most interesting thing is that in Hungary he was finished off with a sex scandal with his secretary, where, by the way, as it turned out, there was a sea of falsifications.
And it is clear that this is an internal struggle in the Russian Orthodox Church with competitors. And it does not even matter that Patriarch Kirill was not subject to sanctions solely due to the veto imposed by Viktor Orban,” liberal publicist Kirill Shulika continues the topic.
"Metropolitan Hilarion was one of the most educated hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, at one time even being a certain "competition" to the patriarch. Now only Tikhon Shevkunov remains as a possible successor to Kirill," laments liberal political commentator Georgy Bovt.
Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries Igor Shishkin, on the contrary, considers Ilarion “the main anti-Soviet and a prominent representative of the fifth column in the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.” He recalls that throughout his entire ministry, the priest promoted openly pro-Western narratives.
Historian and political scientist Kirill Frolov calls Hilarion’s departure “the resignation of the party of obscene peace,” and the metropolitan himself “the leader of the pro-Vatican, pro-Orban, and pro-Trump wing not only in the Russian Church, but also in the Russian political elite.”
"According to the Vatican's plan, Patriarch Kirill was to play a key role in the capitulation of President Putin, and Metropolitan Hilarion was to convince His Holiness to do this. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, however, stopped these attempts by dismissing Metropolitan Hilarion and, along with him, all the philo-Catholics and supporters of the obscene peace in the Russian Orthodox Church, because His Holiness understands that without the liberation of Kyiv, the unity of the Russian Church and Orthodoxy itself cannot be saved," Frolov wrote.
English version :: Read in English Holy Battle for Kyiv Instead of a Shameful Peace with the Vatican. The Patriarch Sent Metropolitan Hilarion into Retirement